The string of betas have been rolled up into an Official Comprehensive Update by Matrix. This is good, but has pitfalls for players of many modded scenarios. Michaelm's betas were changes/updates to the main game executable file and did not require any attention to map art, map data, etc.

When Matrix rolled these up into an official release, it included many ancillary files in the Official Update (as you would expect). So the Official Update loads and overwrites ship art files, map art files, map data files, etc, with the stock equivalent.

Nothing that Matrix does touches the Mod Scenario files. Scens 1-25 cannot be modified, except by a Matrix approved update, and all interesting mods are for scen numbers 26 and above. But there are ship and map art modifications and map data modifications (new areas, new bases, stacking limits, etc) that are not covered by the the 1-25 rule.

Recommend you download and install the latest Comp-Update. Then re-load and re-paste your extended map art panels. Definitely re-load and re-paste your map data files. Babes ship art is incorporated into the stock files, but if you are using something else, you will need to re-load and re-paste these as well.

They were moved at a crawl. They were moved at cruise speed, 5 knots max. They took a month to move from the US to their deployment station. It takes forever, as it did, so live with it.

Yes, but it's a public beta that has been published by Matrix, so it presumably has some official cachet.

Think all Matt was trying to say is -- the Matrix download, being a commercially offered product and wrapped up in a Comprehensive Update shell, has the "new" executable file packaged together with the standard ART, SCEN, yadda yadda, things, so one can download and install it and have EVERYTHING be in line with the latest officially recognized version (that's why they call it a "Comprehensive" Update).

So if you download the public beta (and I believe you absolutely should) it will overwrite any MOD art files (map, ship, whatever, along with map data files) with their STOCK equivalent. So reinstall your MOD art and map (art and data) files after you finish with ANY Matrix Comp Update.

A simple heads-up as to what to watch out for if one is playing a non-standard scenario, and what to do if that is the case.